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I was lucky enough to sit down in Hollywood with Matti Leshem, one of the foremost experts on branding, and a serial entrepreneur himself. Matti is the founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based brand strategy company, Protagonist, which has created immersive brand experiences for clients including PepsiCo, Acxiom, Weight Watchers, Viacom, Dick’s Sporting Goods and more. We discussed the meaning and value of branding, the differences of working for others, including media mogul Barry Diller, and Matti’s circuitous rise to the top.

Simon: You have had an incredible, and somewhat eclectic, career. Tell us briefly how you got here:

Leshem: I came to Hollywood in the 80s to pursue an acting career but I soon discovered that, unlike many of my friends, I was fascinated by the business side of the industry.

I landed a major role on a TV series called Family Medical Center as a dashing young doctor – (I had a lot more hair then!) – and although I began as a guest star, they kept bringing

me back. In the end, I was on the show for 169 episodes until it finished. For most, this would have been the dream job - but I couldn’t help watching these actors and thinking, “They have no power! Where’s the real power?” I soon realized the power lay with producers and with the writers who could draft a character in and out of a show. I thought, “If I’m going to understand this landscape better, I’m going to have to go to film school.” So I wrote and produced a movie, submitted to AFI and wound up getting my Masters from there. Once out of film school I rose up quickly in the industry and became the president of comedy enterprise, The Second City.

Simon: How did you get in to programming?

Leshem: After a while at Second City I witnessed the explosive growth of the internet. I knew it was going to be huge and I felt entertainment had a big part to play in its future. I founded my first company, Cobalt Moon, and we won Microsoft as our first client. They had launched MSN in 1995 but needed content. I had great content but knew nothing really about the internet or coding. I had heard there was a guy in Santa Cruz who was the best internet coder in, what was then, a pretty small industry. He didn’t return my calls but eventually I got in touch with him and flew out to meet him in the only suit that I owned. I told him he was going to move to LA and we were going to start an internet company together. Two weeks later he flew down. We met with Microsoft, pitched them the Second City Naked News, and they bought it.

Simon: So your first business was a success?

Leshem: Absolutely.Cobalt Moon was doing really well and at one point we got a write up in the LA Times. Off the back of that article a headhunter called me and told me than none other than Barry Diller wanted to hire me. Diller had bought ten stations in the late 90s, consolidated them and now needed original programming. They liked what I had done at Cobalt Moon and wanted me to manage all the programming for that station; news, sports, entertainment, everything. The truth is, I was probably the least qualified person in the world to run the station, but Diller decided to hire me anyway.

Simon: What did you learn from Barry Diller?

Leshem: The irony was I thoughtBarryDiller hired me for my creativity where in fact he was interested in my ability to execute. Barry taught me everything I know about business and that your creativity is only as good as your ability to execute against it. Today there exists a cult of creativity: everyone has to be a ‘creative’. But Diller showed me that creativity is only valuable if you can understand it and translate it for a business context. Barry educated me in the ‘business’ side of this business and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Simon: You talk about being inexperienced. What advice do you have for people who have the predisposition for entrepreneurship but maybe don’t have the experience?

Leshem: When someone has a fire inside them, it means they are going to get your attention. And in this day and age, an audience’s attention is the thing you want more than anything. If I can walk into a room and get your attention, that is half the battle. Whether it’s potential employers, clients or investors, you can have a great idea or decades of experience but it’s meaningless if you don’t have anybody’s attention.I think what makes most entrepreneurs exceptional is the drive and the ability to execute their vision. Most entrepreneurs are not geniuses, I am certainly not! The reality is that a lot of the time you see people who could be great entrepreneurs who talk themselves out of it because they feel their idea isn’t big enough or cannot succeed. The reality is you will not have the answer about 70% of the time.

Simon: I talked to Jennie Enterprise and she gave me advice on three components to making something work: 1. Great idea 2. Inspiring others to follow you 3. Executing it brilliantly. Would you agree with that?